18:37
by DSISandraPullman39
Summary: 18:37 on a Saturday night and Oxford loses power causing more than a few problems for its residents.
1. Jean

**18:37 – 1/5**

**Disclaimer:-** Don't own them just borrowing!

**Episode:- **None

**Pairing:- **Jean/James

**Rating:-**M

**Achieve:- ** **http(:/) . /group/rebeccafrontlewisffarchive/**

**Summary:- **18:37 on a Saturday night and Oxford loses power causing more than a few problems for its residents.

**Author's Note:- **Written for the "Power cut" challenge to write a fic including A power cut, a ruined food stuff. A lost computer document, a recording stopped in the middle. Five parts one from the perspective of each of the four characters and a conclusion chapter at the end, enjoy and reviews would be lovely!

Jean

Looking at the ingredients set out in front of her Jean smiled excitedly. She'd been planning the perfect dinner party for weeks and now with three hours until James, Robbie and Laura were due to arrive she had everything ready. A couple of hours of prep and she'd have the beef in the oven and everything else ready once they arrived. James had wanted to help, he'd tried more than once to convince her that rather than spending what would usually be their Saturday together at home alone he should be there but she'd stuck to her guns.

"Ok time to get started Jean." She sighed looking at the carefully prepared list she'd made while eating her lunch. She knew James would have found her need to have everything planned down to the last second hilarious. He never really understood her need to plan and make lists which was the main reason she hadn't wanted his around for this part of the day. Not only that but he could still find a way to distract her like no one she'd ever known and tonight's meal was a matter of pride so she wasn't going to mess it up.

Two weeks before they'd met up for a similar meal and Laura's and James had raved about it in a way he'd never done about anything she'd cooked. He'd rhapsodised about how fantastic the salmon starter was, drooled over the beef wellington main and practically passed out with joy when Laura served her Eton Mess. At the time she'd gently teased him that maybe he should be dating Laura rather than her and he'd reassured her that even if her cooking wasn't as good it was definitely her that he loved. The comment about not being "as good a cook" had felt like a challenge though and now, as she listened to the afternoon play on Radio 4 and chopped, marinade and baked she was sure she had I nailed. BY the time the night was over he'd be eating not just the food but his words and admitting she could cook just as well as her friend.

By five to six she had a chocolate cake baking in the top over, a Cajun marinated joint of beef in the main over, two types of veg and potatoes ready for power boiling on the stove and she was sure she was ready.

"Right James Hathaway that'll show you, now just to make myself as irresistible as the food so you are as desperate to make it up to me for doubting me as you will be to eat the food." She smiled throwing her apron on the table before leaving the kitchen. She had half an hour to shower, dry her hair and channel her best domestic goddess impression to start setting the perfect table. She'd already picked her outfit and within ten minutes she was standing in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom, her hair wrapped in a fluffy towel as she slipped into the red shift dress she knew James loved. Sitting at the table in the corner of the room she glanced at the clock on her beside cabinet as she switched the hair drier on feeling the warm air for all of thirty seconds as she noted it was 18:37 and she had 23 minutes left to finish getting ready. At first she put the sudden death of the hairdryer down to the fact she'd been sire she should have replaced it years before. She'd cursed the fact that she didn't have time to rush out and buy a new one and was in the process of working out what she could do with her damp hair when she was struck by the sudden silence in the room.

"No! Oh my god you have to be kidding me!" She shouted rushing to the other side of the room trying the light switch and growling with frustration as it refused to come on. Taking the stairs two at a time she reached the kitchen staring into the two dark and silent ovens. For weeks they'd been suffering through occasional power cuts, the substation kept sending them letters apologising and assuring them the necessary maintenance work was almost at an end. Now with her cake slowly sinking in the middle and her beef nowhere near cooked she couldn't believe that it was happening again tonight. Of all nights she couldn't understand why they were picking a Saturday night when surly everyone was doing something that required electricity. Reaching for her phone and the emergency contact number stuck to the fridge she dialled determined to make her irritation known and take it out on someone, anyone, even if it was just a recorded voice on the end of the phone.


	2. Laura

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

18:37 – 2/5 – Laura

Relaxing into the hot bath she'd just run for herself Laura sighed contentedly. She'd had the day from hell and now she couldn't wait to relax with Robbie and their friends that evening. She knew there was an ulterior motive behind Jean's insistence that she cook that night rather than them going out as they usually did on Friday nights. James had put his foot in it in grand style the last time they'd all eaten together and she herself had cooked so she knew Jean was out to prove a point and she had every intention of helping along the way if she could. She adored James but at times he suffered from a lack of tact that she knew caused problems in his relationship with Jean and when she had cooked for them the week before and he had raved about her food ignoring the warning stares from both her and Jean she'd known there would be repercussions to it.

"Hello? Robbie why are you calling you're supposed to be picking me up in an hour couldn't it wait?" She sighed into the phone which had suddenly chirped into life on the small table beside the bath. She knew she should have left it downstairs but habit dictated that she always lifted it when she was moving from room to room and until it had rang she had forgotten it was sitting beside the glass of wine she'd been enjoying while soaking in the warm water. "You better not be calling to say something's happened, Jean will pitch a fit if anything ruins tonight you know she's been planning it all week."

"No, honestly nothing's happened I just wanted to know if you could record the Rugby for me. I'm still waiting for them to come and sort out my Sky box and it won't record." Robbie replied as she shook her head smiling at the fact he had forgotten already that he asked her to do exactly that when they'd seen each other that afternoon.

"It's set already darling you asked me to do it earlier. Now can I enjoy my bath in peace?" She laughed rolling her eyes as he hummed quietly on the other end of the phone and she knew exactly what was coming next.

"You're in the bath? You could have called and I could have come over early and helped wash your back."

"Down boy we don't have time for you to wash my back and everything else that comes along with it if we're late Jean will kill us."

"Why couldn't James just have kept his mouth shut when you cooked for us all we could have been out at that Indian we all love so much tonight then no one would be stressed and Jean wouldn't have spent every spare moment this week quizzing us about what we liked and didn't like to eat? I swear that lad will never learn."

"Yeah well he hasn't had as much experience in tact and diplomacy with women as you have now go, I need to get out of this bath and get ready it's already almost half six." Laura laughed hanging up the call and getting out of the bath, draining it and drying quickly before putting on her bathrobe and leaving the bathroom. She'd already decided what she was wearing so she knew she had a little time to kill and considering how determined Robbie had been that she should not forget about his recording she wandered through the house into the living room smiling to herself as the familiar red light on the Sky box told her the recording had started. She knew the match was important to him, his son was coming down that Sunday for lunch and they were planning on taking him to the pub for their Sunday buffet then back to her house for the two of them to watch it while she played waitress keeping them supplied with snacks and drinks. He so rarely got to spend quality time with his son that she'd been delighted when the plans had been made and now that she was sure that she had done her duty and the Rugby match was recording she was happy to go back to getting ready. Glancing at the clock she smiled noting that at six thirty five she still had almost an hour to get ready and turned toward the stairs and had her foot on the first one when the landing light went out with a loud crack. Cursing the fact that the bulb had picked that night of all nights to blow she turned back toward the kitchen to retrieve a new one when the darkness from the sitting room she'd just left, leaving the light on when she did, struck her.

"Shit! No not now, come on!" She groaned entering the sitting room again and staring at the corner where the TV sat and the light no longer shone reassuringly from the satellite receiver. Weeks of power cuts had made her prepared with candles and torches in strategic places around the house but tonight it truly as the last thing she needed. Now she knew no matter what other troubles the lack of power meant for the evening Robbie's **recording had been cancelled** and his Sunday plans were in jeopardy. Not only that but she had a suspicion that if the outage was city wide Jean wouldn't exactly be thrilled about it either and that was a much more immediate problem.


	3. James

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

18:37 – 3/5 – James

"Mum I'm doing it, I don't need you to hold my hand I know how to plan a romantic break with my girlfriend myself!" James huffed, glaring at the phone beside his computer as his mother's voice filled the room again from the speakerphone.

"If you hadn't been so insensitive in the first place you wouldn't be having to do this at all. Seriously James I despair of you I really do. I thought I brought you up with a little more…"

"I wasn't being insensitive! I was trying to show my appreciation for the meal that had been prepared for me!" He interrupted wishing that he hadn't told his mother about the earlier dinner party at Laura's and the effect his comments seemed to have had on Jean. He'd only said anything because he wanted her advice on where to plan the weekend away he was intending to surprise Jean with that night while they were having dinner, he'd hoped she would just tell him where to take his irate partner then leave it at that. In retrospect he knew he should have known better. His mother was delighted about his relationship with Jean, she constantly told him how good it was for him and how lucky he was to have met someone so perfect for him and when he'd told her the source of Jean's panic over dinner that night she'd been appalled.

"James William Hathaway I swear I could shake you at times, you never imply that another woman's cooking is better than your partner's, you never comment on how another woman looks at a social event and you never mention old girlfriends when you are discussing your current relationship. It took years for me to teach your father these things I thought I'd…"

"Imogen leave the boy alone, you've lectured him enough now let him get on with what he's doing or he'll be late for dinner tonight and be in even more trouble." James heard his father shout in the background saying a silent thank you and making a mental note to thank him the next time they met up as his mother said her goodbyes and finally disconnected the call.

Staring at the computer screen he checked the booking details for the first class carriage on the Highland Sleeper making a note of them on the pad beside the keyboard and closed that screen revealing the hotel reservation for the one night they would spend in Avimore before getting the sleeper train back again. Smiling to himself he left the table glancing at the clock as he did and moving to his bedroom to change ready for the night's dinner. He had already planned how he would put the details of the weekend together on a single document and when in the progress of the meal he would give it to Jean and for the first time since Laura's dinner party he believed he was about to properly make it up to her.

He'd meant it when he told his mother that he hadn't set out to upset Jean or imply that she couldn't compete with Laura's skills in the kitchen. He'd simply been interested in letting their friend know how much he'd appreciated the meal but between Robbie's repeated teasing, his mother's all out rant about his idiocy and the obsessive behaviour Jean had exhibited all week in the lead up to that night he had come to realise he had messed up. Finishing dressing and confirming once again that he still had enough time to finish putting together the details of the trip on a single printable sheet of paper and put it in the silver gift envelope before he would have to leave.

"Ok Jean Innocent if you want me to prove that as far as I'm concerned you are the most amazing woman in the world and better at anything than any other woman you've got it." He smiled typing a short note on the top of the Word document he'd opened he added the details of the train journey and pasted in a picture of the old fashioned sleeper carriage they would spend the night on when they left Oxford. He intended to make it to Jean's a little to show her his plans before Robbie and Laura arrived and noting that it was after six thirty he pasted in the final picture of the hotel and was about to hit save before printing when the screen went blank and for a second he stared at it in shock. Glancing around the room he ticked off the things that had previously been functioning with the aid of electricity before groaning loudly,

"Shit! Thanks a fucking bunch!" He snapped his frustration growing as he glanced out the window and noted that the streetlights outside where also out. "Why tonight, why now? I mean what the fucking hell?"

Staring again and the screen his heart sinking as his ideas of a romantic gesture were as **lost as the document** he'd been working on he was about to continue with his rant at the local power company when he was struck by the much more frightening fact that if his power was out then Jean's probably was too. All of the outages they'd been having lately were city wide and as irritated as he was he could only imagine what she would be feeling at that moment. She'd put all that work in, done so much to make it perfect and there was a big chance it was all going to be fore nothing as he grabbed his coat and headed for the door determined to make it better in any way he could and hope that proved his commitment even more than his original plan would have.


End file.
